Chapter 16: Truth and Friendship

Luster exited her tent to start, what is hopefully her final, day on this mission. Again, nopony else was at the firepit. She still felt slightly uncomfortable since there were still bits of raw egg and burnt wood stuck in her fur. It sure didn’t make sleep easier.

Since she was out of eggs due to what happened yesterday, she decided to root for a hayburger brunch.

She came to the decision to cook one for herself and then see if the villains want anything when they wake up.

The hayburger was good, and it gave her stomach satisfaction after not eating for almost 24 hours.

Despite the time it took for her to cook and eat, the villains still didn’t exit their tents. It was only about 30 minutes later when the first villain came out.

It was Tirek.

He exited the tent, closed it, and made his way to the firepit before sitting on the log that was on the left of Lusters viewpoint.

Luster decided to hold off from asking. Something inside her told her to wait until all the villains were gathered.

Only a minute later did Cozy leave, taking the log in the right of Luster’s viewpoint. Another minute passed before Chrysalis came out and claimed the log facing Luster.

“Any of you hungry?” She offered. “You haven’t eaten at all when we were here.”

“Maybe in a bit,” Tirek said. “I think I should be honest with you: After last night, I discovered something. I have a new respect for you, along with friendship. I also discovered, that I began to feel deeply sorry for what I did. To my brother and all ponykind.”

“Really? I feel the same. Suddenly, I feel that I was the one who deceived my hive. All they did was change their ways and become better beings,” admitted Chrysalis.

“I hate to admit it, but I now see friendship in a whole new light,” said Cozy Glow. “It’s power, sure. But a different KIND of power than I thought. The GOOD kind.”

“So... you’re telling me your sorry?” asked Luster.

The villains didn’t speak for 30 seconds. Luster once again saw a tear roll down Cozy’s cheek, but it didn’t develop into crying. Once again, Tirek kept his composure, but it was obvious he felt the same as Cozy and Chrysalis, who also had a tear roll down her cheek as she finally spoke.

“W-we are,” Chrysalis said, with a slight tint of quivering in her voice.

“Even though I wasn’t around at the time of your attacks, I forgive you. And I would be more than happy to be your friend as well.

The former villains looked at each other. When they looked back at Luster, they all smiled.

“I would like that,” Tirek said.

“It would mean a lot,” said Cozy.

“I accept your offer as well, Luster Dawn,” said Chrysalis.

Suddenly Luster closed her eyes for a split second. When she opened her eyes again, the trio saw her eyes glowing a bright white light.

Luster’s body suddenly illuminated white light as well as she was lifted off the ground.

RRRIIIIPP

The villains tried to turn their heads and see where the sound came from, but immediately, a few objects flew over them. They turned their heads back and saw them floating over Luster’s head. Most of them were horizontally circling around what was probably another object.

And all of them were glowing!

The former villains suddenly felt themselves lifting too. When they were in the air, Chrysalis slightly floated back. Cozy and Tirek floated back in an even greater distance until they were directly on either side of Chrysalis.

It only took a second for the next step to take place.

Luster lifted her horn and shot a bright white beam right into whatever the other objects were spinning around. The spinning objects suddenly rotated upward, allowing
the former villains to see what the objects were spinning around: a glowing magenta gem shard.

As Luster continued shooting the beam, the magenta gem shard continued getting brighter.

So did the glow that was coming from the trio.

“What’s happening?” Cozy asked.

“I don’t know!” Chrysalis replied.

When the glow around the trio and the magenta shard hit it’s peak, the former villains finally emit a blinding white light that surrounds the whole entire campsite.

It only took a few seconds for the glow to fade. The trio landed safely on their hooves while Luster landed on her log in a perfect sitting position.

The white glow was still in her eyes until she closed them.

“Ugh... what just happened?” she questioned, rubbing her head.

Then, she opened her eyes and they shot open with surprise.

Luster saw the trio standing behind the log that was facing her, with THEIR eyes now glowing white. She saw something different out of each of them. She got off her log and examined the changes made to their bodies without bumping them. But as she made her way, she saw that her tent had six holes in it.

"What the-"

She passed the trio, came closer to the tent, and looked in one of the holes. There, she saw the box, which had six holes in it as well.

"How did-" Luster shook it off. Maybe she could figure it out after inspecting the changes to the former villains. She wanted to get a better description of the changes made to them.

Luster left the tent and finally started to examine the changes to the trio

Tirek had very significant changes to his body. He was bigger in size and strength. His horns were bigger as well.

Chrysalis also had significant changes to her body. She now had a peach color on her chitin. Her barrel consisted of what looked like orange fuzzy fur. She had no holes in her hooves, horn, wings, tail, and mane. Her mane and tail was still teal at the roots, but as the mane got closer to the end, it started to show off a green color. She had a purple carapace, with clear purple wings sticking out of her back.

Luster thought it looked pretty.

Cozy Glow had the least amount of changes, but Luster noticed ONE change on the filly's body: her cutie mark was gone, so now Cozy had no cutie mark at all.

Luster finished examining them before sitting on the log the trio was in front of. Finally, they blinked and their eyes returned to normal.

Chrysalis and Tirek all looked at their own bodies and gasped when they fully came to their senses. Cozy also gasped when she saw what happened to their allies. Tirek and Chrysalis started to examine their bodies and saw the changes.

"I-I'm in my second form? I haven't even stole magic!" Tirek said.

"Did-did I just transform like the others? I look so... pretty!" Chrysalis said. Her voice no longer sounded vain.

"Nothing happened to me!" Cozy said.

"Look at your flank," Luster said.

Cozy did as she was told. Her expression of confusion quickly changed to a mixture of shock and fear.

"Wheres my cutie mark?" she asked.

"How did this happen?" Chrysalis asked.

"It must have been when all of... THAT happened," Tirek said.

"When what happened? Luster asked.

"Your eyes suddenly started glowing," Cozy explained. "Then, all four of us suddenly levitated off the ground. We heard a tear from your tent, but we weren't able to see what happened because whatever tore out of there flew past us very fast. The objects suddenly started floating above your head, with most of the objects revolving around another object. Then, you released a magic beam upward to whatever the other objects were spinning around. Then, the spinning objects changed direction and we saw what they were spinning around: a magenta shard from a gem. And then there was a huge flash of light and then everything went dark. When we came to, we saw what happened to us."

"Hold up," Luster said. "Did you say, 'magenta gem shard'?"

"Yeah."

Luster got off her log and went to the other side of the firepit. There, behind the log farthest from the tent, are the six gem shards that Luster found in the box.

"Are those the objects?"

The former villains made their way to where Luster was. They all surrounded the shards with Luster, forming a semicircle with the log.

"Yes... I think they were," Tirek said.

"What are they?" asked Cozy.

"Those, my friends, are shards from the Elements of Harmony," a familiar voice said.

Luster and the trio looked up and saw Princess Twilight sitting on the log closest to the tents. Again, she was sparkly and transparent.

"Princess Twilight?" Luster asked.

"Umm... why do you look like Celestia?" Cozy asked.

"Well, you see, when I was coronated, the Princesses fused their crowns to form mine, granting me their powers."

"Oh," Cozy said.

"Uuummm... Princess? I have to ask... when you're all sparkly, is it you magically contacting me or something?" Luster asked.

Princess Twilight took a deep breath.

"Luster, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy... it's time for me to tell you the truth... I may look like how Princess Twilight looks today, but I am not her."

"Huh?" the four said at the same time.

"I am actually the Tree... or Treehouse... of Harmony. I usually prefer to take this form when I am speaking to you."

"Wait... were YOU the one who gave me the option to go home or stay here when they ran off?" Luster said, motioning her hoof to the trio.

"Yes... I was. Oh, and do you remember when all of you fell asleep at the same time?"

"Yes," the four said at, again, the same time..

"I was the one who put you all to sleep. I was the one who visited your dreams. Luster, I visted your dream in this form. As for you three, I visited your dreams as Luster."

"That was YOU?" Chrysalis asked with surprise in her voice.

"Yes... it was."

"But WHY?" Luster asked. "Why did you DO this?"

"Luster, normally I stay out of friendship missions. But this one is different. These villains would NEVER listen to you unless you could talk some sense into them. They would REFUSE to converse, and even if they gave in, you probably wouldn't get through to them. So I put them to sleep, along with you, so I could talk some sense into them. I put YOU to sleep for advice."

"Oh. You know, normally I would be offended or upset at somepony for intervening for things assigned to ME. But... I acutally am thankful for your help, because I you're right. I'm don't have as much KNOWLEDGE of friendship as YOU do because you are basically the EMBODIMENT of friendship. But I only have one question: why did you send me, of all ponies, on this mission?"

"Because, Luster, I wanted to show you that you knew more about friendship than you thought."

"I didn't even teach them much."

"But you showed it. Watch."

The Tree Spirit lit up her horn and a projection appeared in front of Luster and the trio.

First, it showed Luster telling the former villains she was making them eggs.

"Generosity," the Spirit said.

It switched to Luster telling the trio she saw potential in them.

"Honesty."

Then, it showed Luster falling on the eggs, before getting up and then falling in the firepit.

"Laughter."

It then showed Luster saying she was gonna go back for the villains.

"Loyalty."

Then, the projection switched to Luster hugging Cozy.

"Kindness."

Finally, the projection showed Luster offering the trio friendship, and then showed Tirek, Cozy, and then Chrysalis accepting the offer.

"Magic."

The projection faded.

"That's why the shards were glowing, Luster. Everytime you did something resembling an element, the element would glow. Once you got the magic element to glow, all of what just happened to you and the trio escalated. Now, Tirek is in his second form, but even when he gets his magic back, he can't steal power..."

"Even if I had the ability, I wouldn't do it again anymore at this point," Tirek said.

"...Now, Chrysalis metamorphosed..." the Spirit continued.

"I still can't get over how pretty I look. I haven't even seen my face!" Chrysalis said. She still couldn’t help but marvel at her appearance change.

"... And ow, Cozy Glow doesn't have her cutie mark anymore. She can find a NEW destiny now."

"I hope it's something good..." Cozy said.

"You DID do a lot, Luster. And I'm proud."

Luster smiled.

"Thank you."

Suddenly, Luster saw a faint light illuminate behind her. She looked at her flank and saw that her cutie mark was glowing.

"Uuuh, what does that mean?" Tirek asked.

"It means her friendship mission is fufilled," the Spirit said. "I may be a spirit, but I can still take you home. Is that ok?"

Luster nodded.

"Yes."

The Tree Spirit suddenly lit up her horn and a blinding flash illuminated the field.

Author's Note

This is the longest chapter. I apologize for confusion and errors.

So now the villains reformed. But there is still a couple loose ends to tie up.

Feel free to comment your thoughts below about the situation at hand. Sure, the fanfiction is almost over, but theories are still open for discussion. And always let the brony or pegasister within conquer your creativity.